It seems as though many Americans are living a life that leads to high blood pressure or hypertension. As people age, the situation gets worse. Nearly half of all older Americans have hypertension. This disease makes people five times more prone to strokes, three times more likely to have a heart attack, and two to three times more likely to experience a heart failure.
The problem with this
disease is that nearly one-third of the folks who have hypertension do not know
it because they never feel any direct pain. But over time the force of that
pressure damages the inside surface of your blood vessels.
However, according to
experts, hypertension is not predestined. Reducing salt intake, adopting a
desirable dietary pattern losing weight and exercising can all help prevent
hypertension.
Quitting bad habits and
eating a low-fat diet will help, but the most significant part that you can do
is to exercise. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it
also enhances the health of the heart muscles.
Heart and Exercise
The exercise stimulates
the development of new connections between the impaired and the nearly normal
blood vessels, so people who exercise have a better blood supply to all the
muscle tissue of the heart.
The human heart
basically, supply blood to an area of the heart damaged in a “myocardial
infarction.” A heart attack is a condition, in which, the myocardium or the
heart muscle does not get enough oxygen and other nutrients and so it begins to
die.
For this reason and
after a series of careful considerations, some researchers have observed that
exercise can stimulate the development of these life-saving detours in the
heart. One study further showed that moderate exercise several times a week is
more effective in building up these auxiliary pathways than extremely vigorous
exercise done twice as often.
Such information has led
some people to think of exercise as a panacea for heart disorders, a fail-safe
protection against hypertension or death. That is not so. Even marathon runners
that have suffered hypertension and exercise cannot overcome the combination of
other risk factors.
What Causes
Hypertension?
Sometimes abnormalities
of the kidney are responsible. There is also a study wherein the researchers
identified more common contributing factors such as heredity, obesity, and lack
of physical activity. And so, what can be done to lower blood pressure and
avoid the risk of developing hypertension? Again, exercise seems to be just
what the doctor might order.
If you think that is
what he will do, then, try to contemplate on this list and find some ways how
you can incorporate these things into your lifestyle and start to live a life
free from the possibilities of developing hypertension. But before you start
following the systematic instructions, it would be better to review them first
before getting into action.
1. See your doctor
Check with your doctor
before beginning an exercise program. If you make any significant changes in
your level of physical activity — particularly if those changes could make
large and sudden demands on your circulatory system — check with your doctors
again.
2. Take it slow
Start at a low,
comfortable level of exertion and progress gradually. The program is designed
in two stages to allow for a progressive increase inactivity.
3. Know your limit
Determine your safety
limit for exertion. Use some clues such as sleep problems or fatigue the day
after a workout to check on whether you are overdoing it. Once identified, stay
within it. Over-exercising is both dangerous and unnecessary.
4. Exercise regularly
You need to work out a
minimum of three times a week and a maximum of five times a week to get the
most benefit. Once you are in peak condition, a single workout a week can
maintain the muscular benefits. However, cardiovascular fitness requires more
frequent activity.
5. Exercise at a rate
within your capacity
The optimum benefits for
older exercisers are produced by exercise at 40% to 60% of capacity.
Indeed, weight loss
through exercise is an excellent starting point if you wan tot prevent hypertension.
Experts say that being overweight is linked to an increased risk of developing
hypertension and losing weight decreases the risk.